Challenges of Managing People and Performance - Literature review Example

CHALLENGES OF MANAGING PEOPLE AND PERFORMANCE By Location Challenges of Managing People and Performance Quality/Performance Management There are a number of challenges that human resource managers usually face with regard to management of employee performance. In the modern day business environment, there are various dimensions of the challenges that are associated with management of human resources. It is of high importance of a human resource manager to be aware of these challenges so that they can able to overcome them and make sure that they bring out the best of an organisation’s human resource. This report entails findings on the challenges that might be faced regarding human resource performance management. One of the most common challenges faced in management of performance is lack of alignment. This can be as a result of a situation where various processes in an organisation are designed in isolation. In a business organisation, there is always a close link between budgeting, development of strategy, and operation development (Eckerson 2010, p. 178). However, when budgeting, development of strategy, and operational development are formed under different departments, with the use of different frameworks, it is always hard aligning different functions of a business organisation (Purcell 2003, p. 111). In such a case, there is a very high possibility that there will be a lack of alignment between individual, departmental, and organisational performances. In such a case, it is usually become harder for human resource managers to come up with performance measures that can be effective for all the functions of a business organisation (Sanders & Walters 2008, p. 231). The quality required for different functions is usually variable, thus making it even harder for HRM to come up with universal measures. In designing of performance management tools and systems, managers usually have particular needs of the organisation in mind. In a typical situation the design process usually involve extended consultation. Consultation and interaction are always of high importance in enhancing the relationship between employees and relevant stakeholders. Trust is always a very important ingredient in performance management (Rummler & Brache 2012, p. 212). If an organisation is planning to develop a performance management system, it is of high importance for them to make sure that it is of good impact on the stakeholders of an organisation relationship. This is always a huge challenge to managers because an organisation can loss their time, credibility, finances, and human resource in the process. If the proposed system does not have balance then there is a very high possibility of emergence of resistance to change by the employees (Griffin & Moorhead 2014, p. 214). This is a simple implication that the development of performance management systems should be handled by people with the most appropriate skills and experience. Even with the most skilled and experience, it should be noted that designing new performance management systems will always be a challenge. Individual Reflective Review From my own understanding, many organisations usually work in the hierarchal form of leadership. It is not always a guarantee that the people that are above a human resource manager in an organisation will support their proposals on human performance management (Adams 2007, p. 101). However, for a performance management system to be successful, it has to be supported by the top management in an organisation. The support for any human performance management system should be accompanied by a commitment towards its implementation. In a scenario where the top management of an organisation does not support the systems it can be said that there will be a challenge since there are very little that a human resource manager can do without the support of the top management (Wellington 2011, p. 213). The implementation of any to take place in an organisation setting it is of importance for an organisation’s management to approve and support it (Forster 2005, p. 201). In a case where the top management does not support the implementation of a new performance management system, there is a high possibility that it will take longer for a common ground to be reached. In such cases is always even more costly to design and implement new systems. Communication is a factor of high importance in a business organisation setting. This is one of the most important requirements of performance management. Performance management is something that should involve all the stakeholders. It is only through proper communication that this kind of involvement is possible. Proper communication helps out in solving any problem that might exist in the system (Turner 2014, p. 121). Due to the fact that performance management involves different stakeholders, it is only through communication that the various stakeholders can make known their concerns about the system. However, proper communication is not always the case. Making sure that there is proper communication regarding performance management systems is always not an easy task because it involves various functions of an organisation (Armstrong & Baron 2005, p. 157). It should be noted that proper communication should be there in order for an organisation to make sure that they can curb any resistance to changes in performance management systems. In order for the performance of employees in an organisation to be maximized it is of high importance for a manager to make sure that their employees are highly inspired (Paauwe, Guest & Wright 2013, p. 1 99). However, inspiring employees in an organisation is not always an easy task. Motivation is one of the factors in human performance that easily deteriorates if not properly managed. However, it should be noted that it is not easy coming up with a motivation system for an organisation (Paauwe & Boselie 2005, p. 77). One of the main reasons as to why this might be a challenging task is because different people are always motivated by different things. Therefore, it usually takes an organisation extensive research and studies in order to come up with the most appropriate motivation system. It should be noted that even some successful motivation system might fail to be successfully after a period of time (Armstrong 2013, p. 187). This shows that these systems need to be reviewed frequently if in any case an organisation wants to make sure that their employees remain motivated. For any performance to be certified, an evaluation process must be conducted. However, evaluating performance of employees is not always an easy task (Griffin & Moorhead 2011, p. 189). Even choosing the appropriate evaluation system is not an easy thing. A manger should be able to know which of the employees in an organisation is productive and which ones are not productive (Middlewood 2010, p. 132). The challenge is even more imminent in the modern business organisations because of emphasise that are put on team work. It is important for an organisation to come up with a performance evaluation system that does identify their most valued employees without any kind of victimization. There are a number of things that I personally learnt from this experience. One of the most important thing that I learnt is that different human resource professional usually has different opinions regarding challenges that are associated with management of human performance. This was evident in the various opinions from various literature materials which seemed to be different. However, there was a common agreement that these challenges are existent and should be locked into if in any case a business organisation has do enhance the performance of their employees. It was also notable that during the process it was easier to get a clearer understanding of the concepts because we worked as a group. Working as a group was important because it enabled us to get the work done in time. It would have taken much longer for the work to be done if it were not for the fact that working together helped in the division of responsibilities. Furthermore, working together helped because every member would contribute in term of researches and discussions were made so that all the team members would get a chance to have a deeper understanding of the concept. However, working as part of a group did not come without any challenge. Some of the group members would rely on the other members of the group and fail to make any contribution at all. This is a factor that was discouraging to most members of the group. Therefore, it will be right to say that group work can in some situations encourage joyriding. However, with good leadership most teams are always successful with every member contributing. This is an indication of just how important good leadership can be in a group setting. Bibliography Adams, J 2007, “Managing people in organisations” Contemporary The. Armstrong, M & Baron, A 2005, Managing performance: performance management in action, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. Armstrong, M 2013,How to manage people,Kogan Page, London.http://www.dawsonera.com/depp/reader/protected/external/AbstractView/S9780749467098. Eckerson, WW 2010, Performance dashboards: measuring, monitoring, and managing your business, John Wiley & Sons. Forster, N 2005, Maximum performance: A practical guide to leading and managing people at work, Edward Elgar Publishing. Griffin, R & Moorhead, G 2011, Organisational behaviour, Cengage Learning. Griffin, RW & Moorhead, G 2014,Organisationalbehavior: managing people and organisations,South-Western/Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Middlewood, D 2010, “Managing people and performance” The principles of educational leadershipp& management, 132-50. Paauwe, J &Boselie, P 2005, “HRM and performance: what next?” Human Resource Management Journal, 15(4), 68-83. Paauwe, J, Guest, D & Wright, PM 2013,HRM and performance: achievements and challenges,Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex. Purcell, J 2003, Understanding the people and performance link: unlocking the black box, CIPD Publishing. Rummler, GA &Brache, AP 2012, Improving performance: How to manage the white space on the organisation chart, John Wiley & Sons. Sanders, DJ & Walters, G 2008,Equipped to lead managing people, process, partners, and performance,McGraw-Hill, New York.http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=26157. Turner, JR 2014, The handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92), McGraw-hill. Wellington, P 2011,Effective people management,Kogan Page, London. Read More